October17
Just yesterday, Ford CEO Alan Mullay said he thinks Mercury is “doing well,” and “absolutely” has a future. But the company’s product map tells a different story. Leftlane sources say Mercury has almost no future products in the pipeline. Many of the new products that were planned are now canceled. We’ve got the complete run down.
Milan
The Milan is the only Mercury product with a firm future for the next few years. It will get a moderate refresh, along with the Fusion for the 2009 model year. The Milan, along with the Fusion, will also get a hybrid variant at this point.
Once the Fusion comes up for a total redesign in 2011 or 2012, however, the Milan will likely be dropped.
Mariner
The current model is the last we should see of the Mariner. When the current Escape receives a refresh or redesign in two or three years, the Mariner will not come along for the ride.
Mountaineer and Grand Marquis
Both the Mountaineer and Grand Marquis are most certainly on the way out. The Mountaineer could be gone in a year — a move announced as part of Ford’s “Way Forward” strategy. The aging Grand Marquis will be phased out around the same time as the current Ford Crown Victoria.
Sable
With the Sable (and Ford Taurus) just receiving a refresh, this is the last we will see of the Sable. When the current Taurus is due for a refresh/redesign in 2-3 years, the Sable model will be dropped.
Mercury version of the Ford Flex
The original plan for the Ford Flex program was to have a Mercury variant. However, over a year ago, this model was canceled. The secondary vehicle was instead given to Lincoln. This is the Lincoln D472 program now under development.
Mercury version of the Taurus X
We first saw evidence of this vehicle with the Mercury Meta one concept. Then, in mid 2006, we saw camouflaged prototypes of this vehicle testing. The vehicle amounted to a Ford Freestyle with a Mercury grill, slightly changed body work and different tail lights. Ford obviously realized this wasn’t going to be enough to generate sales and killed the program over a year ago.
Ford preview event
Ford held a preview of their lineup for media members and employees late in 2006. Sources in attendance indicated that Mercury was talked about very little during the preview. They also indicated that the only Mercury product they were shown was a Milan with a minor exterior refresh.
Dead by 2012?
Mercury sold 180,848 vehicles in 2006 — the division’s lowest total since 1960 — and was 11 percent off that pace through the first nine months of 2007. Most industry observers expect a gradual death for Mercury. By 2012, it’s a good possibility the last ever Mercury will roll off the line then.
While there have been rumors about Ford importing European cars to America and badging them as Mercury models, sources say this scenario is unlikely. Federalizing and importing foreign market cars is expensive and reengineering them for U.S. production is also costly. Whether the Mercury brand is worth this investment is highly questionable. GM used a similar strategy by aligning its Saturn and Opel brands, but Saturn was considerably stronger than Mercury when this decision was made.
Why wait till 2012?
Why prolong the agony? It is a dead brand for a long time.
When Mulally said, “Mercury is doing well” he went down a couple of notches in my book. As CEO you need to recognize and state what is obvious to the rest of the world or lose credibility.
If mercury has no distinct models, why is there a mercury?
mabey they should save the mercury name for a hot line of low volume cars that are not rebadges.
I don’t think this bit of news surprises anyone.
Stick a fork in Mercury now.
It cost $ to buy out the Mercury dealers though…
Conjecture
Every single Mercury dealer is dualed with Lincoln. I don’t see the problem with killing them. I would be sad to see Mercury go, but in order for them to stay, they need to be more distinct. GM learned long ago that front and rear fascias don’t make a brand. It would also be nice if Mercury is FWD lux and Lincoln is RWD lux… but that would make too much sense.
i like mercury models though… theyre very good looking compared to their Ford counterparts. LED taillights, good use of chrome, and much sharper angles integrated into the designs would put a Milan in my driveway over a Fusion.
and 04focus, if Ford kills of mercury, Lincoln dealers will probably get shut down as they dont have enough models alone to justify a whole dealership.
Lets kill it next year. Put it out of its misery. I never see any new Mercury’s anymore, not even the decent Milan. The other ones blow though, I respect the Mariner hybrid for being a real hybrid (Toyota’s technology though..), but the Mountaineer, Grand Marquis, and Sable…well…no respect there. It’s always a bit weird to watch an automaker truly die, like Plymouth and Oldsmobile. These are companies that have a storied past, but due to inept management they are gone forever. Mercury is next, I believe this article, and am positive it will happen within the next decade, probably as they say by 2012. Mercury should not exist, it makes nothing distinct or innovative. Having a brand solely as an up level trim to a Ford is not a good enough reason.
What bothers me is how much Mullay is bull****ting. I had hoped he’d be a more realistic CEO of Ford, I mean he came to the job driving a Lexus LS430 saying it was one of the best luxury sedans in the world, so I knew he had some sense and was probably somewhat objective. But it turns out he just spews out the same corporate bull**** as Wagoner and the others do. Too bad really.
Lastly, it seems to me that its the public and the media that keep pulling for rebadged Euro Fords as Mercurys. I think that its a great idea, I think its a stupid cop out, same way GM is copping out rebadging Opels here, but if that’s what it takes to get a decent domestic car as opposed to the junk we seem to be coming up with here, well I’ll take it. But my original point is that FoMoCo itself doesn’t seem to be hearing or understanding the idea of rebadging Euro Fords as Mercurys, its just us, the consumers, and things like LLN, the media. Very strange.
say it aint so. boo-fu@king-hoo
Well, the Flex, F150, Taurus, Edge and Fusion already have their counterparts under Lincoln. Maybe a an Explorer counterpart and that’s about it. The Escape and Focus may just be too small to be made into a luxury model while staying profitable.
There are also the Town Car and Navigator, so that makes one truck, four SUV/CUV, three cars, which are a pretty substantial lineup.
Take Mazda for example, it has nine models, excluding the Mazdaspeed vehicles and they are thriving. It is not the number but the quality of vehicles that matter. But eight models can justify a whole Lincoln dealership.
Yeah, a Lincoln Focus is a great idea.
Mercury has been a dead proposition for years, and as a brand it’s had no cohesion or direction since about 1973. Whenever they dropped the “Sign of the Cat” ad campaign.
Wait, I think it was misprint. It was meant to say “Ford is gone by 2012″. With current (August, September) rate of decline it is feasible.
How unfortunate. I was still holding out hope for a new Mustang derived Cougar. But maybe this dropping redundant products just means a steady re-population with European cars. It shouldn’t be that hard. Just get the work done overseas first. That’s typically how global platforming works, right?
Ill be surprise if ford live that long
Mercury has been dead In Canada, save the Grand Marquis, for 5 years now. They’re dragging it out so all their current dealers don’t jump ship.
I think that the product cancellations is, in part, due to a change in direction for mercury. I don’t think it would be smart to kill off all of that name recognition. what I hope they’re doing is re-mapping the product line to incorporate euro and australian models. I mean, as an organization, they are already spending all of that money to develop those overseas models… why not take advantage of it?
Theoretically, it’s a no brainer. Logistically, it might be a nightmare. I hope they can make it work.
The best way to sustain Mercury is to bring over the European and Australian models and sell them here: Fiesta, Focus, Kuga, Mondeo, Falcon/LTD, C-Max, S-Max, and Galaxy.
The Euro Focus is on the same platform as the current Mazda 3, which is sold here at competitive prices. The excuse that the Euro Focus would cost too much is simply ridiculous.
Importing Euro Fords, however, is a BAD idea, as our currency keeps sliding downward.
That said, I DO NOT understand why people aren’t buying the new Sable and Milan in decent numbers. Both are very good vehicles, reliable, powerful, economical, space-efficient, well-priced, and have more refined styling than their Ford counterparts. They’re also being built with FAR better attention to detail and material quality, though they can still stand to improve a bit.
I’m a GM fan, but as it stands now, I’d probably buy a new Sable over a LaCrosse or Avalon. Though I’d think long and hard about the LaCrosse, since its styling updates look pretty good.
Just started thinking about the concept of bringing Euro Fords to the US as Mercurys. If they did that, who on earth would buy a Ford? If they brought the Euro Focus over and rebadged it as a Mercury, who would buy the FORD Focus when Mercury had an undeniably superior vehicle? I mean i guess if they jacked the price up on the Merc version they wouldn’t totally overlap, but enough so to make it a move that would spoil Ford’s domestic offerings.
inline6 makes a lot of sense. Whatever happens, I hope the ‘Mercury Girl’ will always have a job at Ford.
I would be sad to see such a well-known nameplate disappear like Oldsmobile. Others can come and go like Plymouth, Eagle, Izuzu, but Mercury had a good history. I really hope Ford makes some changes to keep it around (sans rebadging Ford models). All this does is take one more car choice out of the mix.
OK put yourself in the seat of guys who run Ford ops in USA, the biggest group. if you bring “foreign” models to sell in US you just admitted in your own uselessness. Because nobody prohibited you to develop better product here. Execs in US are certainly NOT paid less then in Europe and Australia. Will not happen. It company dies they all have golden parachutes.
For the last time. They cannot sell Euro Fords as Mercury because in two years, those will be Fords. The Fiesta goes on sale in about 18 months. The Focus is about 12 months behind it. The Fusion’s next update will be very good and then the EUCD2 comes about 12 months after the Focus. What happens to Mercury then?
Mercury is a dead brand unless Ford changes its purpose. Instead of being a “softer” Ford, they have to turn it into an “urban” car or a “green” marque or a “sport” brand.
You have to also realize that while we don’t see any Mercury plans, it could be that Ford is keeping tight wraps. They have started cracking down on leaks of their plans (other than general moving to Euro/Aussie derived platforms) and when Mulally joined a year ago, he started axing A LOT of programs in favor of a better overall product strategy. It could just be that part of the axing was to stop making Mercury a Ford rebadge and change its direction entirely.
My money is that Mercury dies - it doesn’t have a place unless Ford gets really creative with it. But I still give it some chance of surviving as a chic “eco” or “urban” brand in very limited quantities (100-150k per year). Everything else is covered by Lincoln or Volvo (which Ford will most likely hold on to).
autonut: you have a point
And FYI this news comes of 50th anniversary of Edsel. I **** you not
That so sad that the Mercury brand will be dead in about 3 years. like “scarface03″ said why wait till 2012 Do it now. Everyone is talking about Mercury’s are just rebadged Ford’s. What about Nissan/Infiniti and Toyota/Lexus Why does it work for them….?? Because they know how to do it right!! For example you take a Nissan Altima and a Infiniti G sedan The same car but totally diffrent. Now take a Ford Fusion and a Mercury Malan still the same cars. Just diffrent front and rear ends. Big woop! the interior’s are identical for god’s sakes. Boy Henry Ford mut be turning over in his grave.
richt62167:
The Nissan Altima and Infiniti G sedan are not the same vehicle. The Altima is a front wheel drive mainstream midsize sedan and the G sedan is a rear wheel drive compact/midsize sport/luxury sedan. They do have similar profiles and they are obviously made by the same corporation, but they have different platforms and layouts underneath.
If Mercury is leaving, then I guess Ford won’t have to work so hard to try to move Lincoln upscale. Right now, Lincoln is a near luxury player. It currently operates in the segment that Mercury should rightfully compete in. Lincoln should be moved upscale to its former spot of luxury marque and then Mercury could be given room to become a true near luxury brand. I either would like to see Ford Corporation fix its brands so Mercury can have distinct products (not rebadged Ford clones) or kill Mercury so it is not limping along in its current, pitiful faux upscale Ford state. I would prefer the former option because choices and alternatives are what make the auto industry so interesting. It would also be great to see Lincoln transform into a true luxury player again.
mazda man is right.. there really is nowhere for Mercury to go in the Ford organization, since its other brands are encroaching on every possible niche Mercury could fill. The “Euro” platform plan most people seem to advocate is dashed because most future Ford-branded models will be based on Euro, Japanese and Aussie platforms. The sporty import-fighter niche is already handled by Mazda. The near-luxury niche is covered by the downgrading of Lincoln. It would almost make more sense to kill Mercury, then dual Mazda and Lincoln dealerships.
Mercury has a great American heritage. Anyone recall that Mercury started what is now the flip-top “Funny Car” class of dragsters? The very first flip-top funny cars were 1966 Mercury Cyclones driven by Dyno Don Nicholson and Fast Eddie Schartman. Anyone remember the Woods Brothers Mercury’s that dominated NASCAR super speedway races in the ’60’s and ’70’s? I recall the 1965 Mercury Park Lane was the Car of the Year from either Motor Trend or Car Life! 1967 Mercury Cougars won several Trans-Am races. Big Mercs won the famous Pikes Peak races in ‘63 and ‘64. Merc’s were very different from Fords through most of the ’50’s, ’60’s & ’70’s, with unique styling, their own dashboards, even some of their own V8’s. Brother-in-law owned a diesel Lynx in the ’80’s that got 60+ mpg! V8 Merc’s used to dominate the Mobile Ecomony Runs in the ’50’s and stood the world on its head with the introduction of those beautiful ‘57 Turnpike Cruisers. Mercs are still sought after by the Hot Rod crowd, i.e. James Dean Merc, Lead Sled Merc. Mercury has a proud heritage, Ford just needs to get their act together. Americans want to but American, they just need better choices. We don’t need to lose more American brands. Mr. Mulally, bring back the Merc!
1st, Mercury Dealers come in 4 flavors: Ford-Lincoln-Mercury, Ford-Mercury, Lincoln-Mercury, and believe it or not, there is a small hand full of just plain old stand alone Mercury stores out there. It will cost Ford a lot to kill off Mercury. They will need to buy out dealers, and they will have to do something about the Lincoln-Mercury duals. The Ford duals will be fine on their own, but the Lincoln ones won’t. Mercury stuff may be copycats of Ford stuff, but at a stand alone Lincoln-Mercury store its fine, because Lincoln doesn’t have a comparable product, and their isn’t a Ford sitting next to it. The importing stuff from europe thing will never happen, so get over it. Everyone would like it to but its to expensive to make those vehicles legal in the US. End of story. There will be Lincoln-Volvo stores before there is Lincoln-Mazda, so thats not going to happen. Ford still only owns 1/3 of Mazda so it can’t, but I think luxury Lincoln-Volvo stores would be a real possibility. I think 3 things would make a huge difference in Mercury. 1) Reintroduce the Mercury Cougar on the Mustang platform. Not a copycat, 5.4L around 350-400 hp and 6 speed instead of 4.6 with a 5 speed, independent rear suspension, and charge a premium over the mustang. 2) Make one of the Ford teams in NASCAR run Milans instead of Fusions. It would be the same bodywork and engine, just a different sticker and marketing package. 3) Kill the Crown Victoria and start selling the Grand Marquis to the police and Taxi companies. These 3 things would bring so much needed attention to the brand it would be rediculous.
I thought Mercury was already dead. Who gives a **** about this ****ty company anyways? When’s the last time anyone here bought a Mercury, or thought about a Mercury as a potential new car? Please. Mullaly should just kill himself.
This is what Mercury needs:
http://www.mercurycougar.net/gallery/data/500/154cbluexxx.jpg
Make it a little bit longer than the Mustang, V8 standard, more luxurious interior etc etc etc…
I would certainly buy one.
Mercury was dead over two decades ago. Bury it while there is still time.
To me, Lincoln’s current or future products (MKZ, future MKS, MKX, and future D3 platform large crossover) are actually products that Mercury should be selling. Lincoln should be building products built off of a dedicated, upscale, rear wheel drive set of components. Upscale versions of the front wheel drive platform vehicles with unique exterior and interior designs and more standard and available options should be Mercury’s purpose as a near luxury competitor (with a couple of image building rear wheel drive performance vehicles thrown into the mix).
Here’s how I would configure a future Mercury lineup:
* Capri: FWD/AWD compact sedan & coupe-cabrio (Euro Ford Focus platform)
* Milan: FWD/AWD midsize sedan & coupe cabrio (Mondeo platform).
* Sable: FWD/AWD large sedan (updated D3 platform).
* Mariner: FWD/AWD compact crossover (Kuga platform).
* Villager: FWD/AWD midsize crossover (updated Edge/MKX platform).
* Monterey: FWD/AWD large crossover (updated D3 platform).
* Cougar: RWD/AWD performance coupe-cabrio (Australian Ford rear wheel drive platform).
* Marquis: RWD/AWD flagship 4-door coupe similar in concept to the Mercedes CLS (Australian Ford rear wheel drive platform).
* Cougar and Marquis are low volume, image building vehicles. The rest of the lineup would be the bread and butter models to carry the brand.
* NONE OF THESE CARS WOULD SHARE ANY EXTERIOR OR INTERIOR STYLING WITH FORD BRAND VEHICLES.
* To further differentiate Ford from Mercury, I would offer AWD as standard equipment on Mercury products and optional equipment on Ford products.
I know that my suggestions are just pure fantasy and will never see the light of day. Ford doesn’t have the money, time, or resources to make it happen. I am also not sure if Lincoln could ever successfully be moved upscale into the luxury market again. I think Mercury has lacked an identity for so long that it could handle a move into true near luxury territory. Oh well, it is kind of fun to speculate what could have been.
Yeah, give us the cougar. I was never much for Mustangs, but Cougars are awesome!! Also, make it IRS.
Well, I can see Ford’s hesitation to kill Mercury. If you recall GM’s Oldsmobile closure at the beginning of this decade, they had an extremely tough time getting dealers etc. to agree that it was time to move on. But hopefully Ford will continue to push forward this idea and make it a reality by 2012.
Mercury has been irrelevant for more than a generation.
Agreed Madcapp. And although I think Ford should do something drastic with Mercury, it doesn’t sound like they are going to so I am not going to be surprised if its dead.
Ford’s situation is different though, because they are selling LR and Jaguar and will have no other luxury brands to compete with except Lincoln. Mercury is comparable to Saturn, Buick, AND Oldsmobile so GM did the right thing letting one of those go..it was just too cluttered because all of those were overlapping. With Ford however, if they get rid of Mercury they will only have Ford as the entry cars and Lincoln as the top of the line cars (unless they choose to intergrate Volvo into the middle if they don’t sell it off too that is)
Just wanted to pop in this thread and say that domestics are inferiorto teh Japanese based on resale value, build quality, and reliability. Check any magazine in the last 20 years and it will tell you the same
Just a reminder thats all in case you forgot
Mercury can be the sports division sort of like what Pontiac is to GM. Import that aussie Falcon and make a Cougar(not a Probe but Cougar) off the Mustang platform. If they will sell trucks they should have the powerful versions of the trucks like Cataract Escapade and Denylie. They have the 6.0 in them and the TaHOE has the smaller engine.
If they don’t do something soon they are DOOMED. I was looking fwd to renting one soon though
Ok kiddo
Thanks for popping in
Lambda!
i think this is incredibly bad news. I’ve always been a fan of classic Mercury. The idea of a new Cougar certainly appeals to me. It should be based on the Mustang Platform. If anything- mercury should dump it’s SUV line and focus on cars and have something of their own that doesn’t have a ford, lincoln or mazda clone.
mazdaman,
I stand corrected on the Nissan/Infiniti I need to do more resurch. Anyway what my point was. If Ford want sell Ford’s Mercury’s and Lincoln’s they need to change more then just frontends/rearends. Like Honda Pilot/Acura MDX, Saturn Sky/Pontiac Solstice, Chrysler 300/Dodge Charger so on,so on
richt62167:
I totally agree. I have read posts on many websites that state that Mercury has an upscale appearance due to the waterfall grille and different headlight/taillight treatments. I say it doesn’t. If Mercury wants to be a true upscale near luxury brand, then everything the customer sees and interacts with needs to be unique and upscale (not just the badge, grille, and exterior lights). Mercury’s practice of offering slightly modified Ford vehicles has stripped the brand of an identity and has rendered it nearly irrelevant in the auto market. What a sad existence for such a historic auto division.
Maybe Ford can just be trucks, SUVs and mustangs, and FMercury can have the other cars.
Hey, what the **** happened to the MetaOne SUV and Mercury Messenger? Why don’t they just ****ing liberate the funds to build these great-looking cars instead of flounder with these epic pieces of **** on the lots?!
mazdaman,
I Like Mercury I really hate to see it go.I like the looks of the Mariner. I think they should incorporate that look into all there car’s
So when I’m president…….